The Calm After the Storm
by CourTrain
Summary: Grandine's last words to Wendy were to be true to her feelings. When Natsu needs a shoulder to lean on more than ever, will Wendy be able to become his source of strength? NaWen (Natsu x Wendy One-shot)


**Author's Note: Hello again everyone! I've cooked up ****_another _****NaWen one-shot for you guys, as they are probably my fav thing to write as far as fics go. Also, important note, this fic is based DIRECTLY after Ch. 415 of the Fairy Tail manga, and if you don't want the current plot to be spoiled or you only watch the anime, you probably shouldn't read this story. If you are caught up in the manga, this should be a decent stress relief from all the angst and sadness of the Tartaros arc, so please do indulge :) **

**The Calm After the Storm **

"So long, Grandeeney-san." Wendy whispered to herself as she waved goodbye to her adopted mother as Grandine, Skiadrum, Metalicana and Weisslogia flew off into the distance, the lingering scent of her maternal figure still fresh in her nose.

It had been an emotional but heart warming reunion for the young bluenette, just as it had been for the other four dragon slayers. Four of them... Sting, Gajeel, Rogue, herself and... _Natsu. _

She had completely forgotten one of her closest friends in her brief moment of euphoria, as she looked over towards the salmon-haired Dragon Slayer who knelt on the ground in solitude. She spotted the corpse of his adopted father, Igneel, dissolving into dust that twinkled in the sky as it rose to the heavens and through Natsu's fingers that desperately waved through the cloud of starry powder.

"No... No... You can't go, you can't... Dad, please don't..." he sobbed, his voice quivering as his anguished cries rung out through the desolate wasteland that was once their battlefield.

"This isn't happening. This isn't real, it's just a dream..." he muttered, clutching his head with his hands as he screamed like a dying animal. His pained shriek pierced her ears and made her own lip begin to quiver as she helplessly looked on as he grieved in solitude.

"Why, why, why, why, WHY?!" he wailed, bursting into an aura of golden flame which was insanely hot, even from Wendy's distance to the young man. "After all this time, all of this searching and hoping... WORTHLESS!"

"Natsu, don't-" Lucy began as she attempted to step forwards to calm him down but was restrained by Erza.

"It's not safe to be near him in this state! Natsu has lost the ability to think rationally!" Erza shouted as Natsu's aura continued to grow hotter and hotter before it receded back into his body, temporarily leaving a cloud of smoke in it's wake before revealing someone that hardly looked like Natsu at all. His normal tanned skin was replaced with a full set of red scales which glimmered like diamonds in the sunlight, and his presence left a certain chill in the air from the sheer power that seemed to radiate from his location. Curved, ram-like horns poked out from each side of his head, with the exception that one of the horns looked to be broken as the tip was jagged and rough. He sat there unmoving, still kneeling on the ground without saying a word. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife, and his change in appearance captivated all the onlookers within the vicinity.

"N- Natsu?" Gray questioned, nervously taking baby-steps towards Natsu's position as the sound of his boots crunching on the rough earth were audible for what felt like miles.

"Traitor." Natsu said in a much deeper and more venomous tone than usual, slowly getting to his feet and facing Gray head on.

Gray's blood ran cold as ice when he saw Natsu's facial expression, which was completely foreign to the Ice-Mage, as he had completely forgotten the sensation of true cold. His body might as well have frozen as he was stopped completely in his tracks, paralysed by utter _fear. _As opposed to Natsu's normally onyx coloured eyes, his left eye remained the same while the right eye was replaced by a reptilian slit that glowed with a soft red light.

"N-N- Natsu! W- Wait-" Gray began, but was silenced by Natsu as he roared at him,

"You would have kept the book of E.N.D to yourself, under the guise of a _mission given to you by your father?! _If this is some sort of joke, Gray, I _certainly _do not find it amusing. Had you given the book to me, and I destroyed it, maybe Acnologia would have left... my father would still be here with me. No, this is a sign, this is you showing your true colours, Gray. And I don't like... what I see." Natsu whispered, approaching Gray and running his long, black talons down the side of his face, leaving a deep gash as Gray was helpless to struggle against him.

"Natsu, stop!" Erza shouted, garnering his attention for a moment as he removed his clawed hand from Gray's face and approached Erza instead. Falling to his knees, Gray propped himself up with his hands as he hyperventilated and tried to catch his breath as Natsu drew ever closer to his other teammate.

"Oi, Erza, you aren't looking so hot, you ought to take a seat and relax for a minute." Natsu said in a more friendly voice, placing his scaly hand on her shoulder as she instinctively backed away from him and fell to the ground.

"Erza, what's wrong?! It's me, Natsu!" he shouted, growing irritated with the young woman.

"The Natsu I know wouldn't even think of hurting his friends. You're just a monster." Erza spat at him.

"Hmph. Whatever you say, Erza. If I had to guess, I'd say this is the result of the lack of those, what were they called, antibodies? The ones that kept all of us from turning into dragons like Acnologia. You treat me like I'm a monster, and that hurts you know. I bet Lucy doesn't think I'm a monster, do you Lucy?" Natsu asked the blonde-haired Celestial Mage as he turned to face her.

_Silence._

"Luce?" Natsu asked, taking a step forward as Lucy took one back. "You can't be serious, it's me! Your friend, your comrade! Why do you act like I have the plague?!" he roared angrily as Lucy took cover behind the group Wendy stood in which consisted of herself, Levy and Gajeel.

"Don't come any closer." Gajeel commanded, stepping in front of the group of girls as he outstretched his arms to protect them.

"You too?" Natsu questioned, gritting his teeth.

"I don't know what's gotten into you, but you better snap out of it." Gajeel replied, his voice unshaking as Natsu clenched his fists.

Stepping back a couple feet and turning to look each of his guild members in the eye, he hung his head in shame and turned the other way to depart the battlefield.

"No, wait, Natsu-san!" Wendy shouted, emerging from behind Gajeel and running after him as he continued walking at the same pace.

"What are you all doing?!" Wendy shrieked at her friends, "Natsu-san is leaving! Why aren't you all trying to stop him? He needs our help!"

"No, Wendy, just... don't. It's clear I don't belong here, not when I have friends that treat me like I'm some kind of demon." Natsu said, turning to face her once more with a sad and empty look in his eyes as he continued his stride down the battlefield.

Wendy wanted to chase after him and insist that he stay, but her legs could not move, no matter how much she willed them to run. Recalling what her foster mother had said to her before leaving, Grandine's voice echoed over and over again inside her head:

_"Wendy, I'm saying this inside of your head so you need not worry about others hearing us. You know the boy, Natsu?" Grandine asked her inside her mind. _

"Yes?" she replied out loud.

_"You love him, don't you Wendy?" Grandine said with a chuckle. _

"E- eh?! I- I don't..." she stammered, but Grandine just gave her a "It's useless denying it" type of look as Wendy just sighed and nodded in reply.

_"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Wendy. I too had a 'crush', as you humans call it, on Igneel back in the day." _Grandine admitted.

"No way, really?" Wendy asked, giggling profusely. The thought of Grandine having a crush on _anyone _was enough to serve as a punchline to a joke.

_"Indeed, just as you remind me greatly of myself, the boy reminds me much of Igneel. Proud, reckless but fiercely loyal. I regret not acknowledging my own feelings for Igneel many, many years ago, but you are still very young, Wendy. You have your whole life ahead of you, and even I know that you desire to spend it with him." _Grandine said, nudging her head in Natsu's direction.

_"I know you are not the most straightforward girl, and you might feel as if you are inferior to the other girls in your guild, or that you imagine he only sees you as a friend, but fear not! You are the Sky Dragon Slayer, Wendy, while you exercise kindness and grace, you have the potential to be just as fierce as a roaring flame! I cannot speak for Natsu personally, but you cannot give up on your feelings for the boy so soon. Fire Dragons are prone to arrogance and emotional outbursts, which clouds their judgement and distances them from who they believe their comrades to be. Natsu is no different, so heed my words carefully, Wendy: there will come a day when Natsu feels as if he has nobody there for him, and it is in that moment when you must reveal your feelings to him. Such is the only way to win a Fire Dragon's heart." _Grandine stated.

"I don't know, Grandeeney-san... I want to believe what you're saying and all, but it's a lot to take in at once." Wendy replied, shuffling her feet.

_"I don't expect you to understand right now, but all will become clear when such an event unfolds. My presence is fading but one last thing before we all go, Wendy." _Grandine said, leaning in to rub her feathery head against Wendy's small body.

"What is it?" Wendy asked.

"You have my blessing." Grandine whispered out loud. With that, the four dragons swiftly departed, never to be seen again.

_I know what you mean now, Grandeeney-san, _Wendy thought.

As Natsu had prepared to take a nice long break from seeing the familiar faces of his family at Fairy Tail, he heard the familiar pitter-patter of tiny footsteps behind him as he turned around to find the source, only to be pulled into a tight embrace by the tiny bluenette. Holding on with all her might, Wendy refused to let go, no matter what forces of nature threatened to separate the two.

"W- Wendy?" Natsu stammered out, not sure what to do.

"I forbid you to leave, Natsu-san! Even if nobody at Fairy Tail accepts you for who or what you are, I'll never allow you to leave me behind!" she shouted fiercely.

"H- Huh?!" Natsu said, confused at her sudden actions.

"Ever since you saved me from Oracion Seis all those months ago, I swore that I'd never allow myself to walk in your shadow ever again. I strived to be as great as you, as confident and as strong as you were in everything you did. You were always the one I looked up to the most, and the one that I tried to protect more than anybody else. Without you, I might not even be here today, so I won't allow you to leave me in the dust, not for anything. I want to be able to walk alongside you, as equals! I don't care whether you're a human, dragon or something inbetween, you'll always be the Natsu I... the Natsu I... the Natsu I love!" she shouted, gripping him even tighter as she buried her tiny head into his scaly chest.

"Wendy... I never knew... you felt that way about me." Natsu choked out, reaching his arms around to return the young girl's embrace. Running one of his clawed fingers through her silky blue hair, Natsu chuckled and said,

"I like the new hair, Wendy."

"Re- Really?" she asked in disbelief, looking up at him with appreciative eyes.

"Really, it looks cute. Did you mean all of what you said, just now?" Natsu asked hopefully.

"Of course I did, Natsu-san. I couldn't just make something like that up." Wendy replied, nuzzling her head into his rough and scaly chest. "So, how long will you be stuck like this?" she asked.

"Beats me. Now that I think about it... you ever heard of the Princess and the Frog, Wendy?" Natsu asked her with a sly grin.

"No, what's that?" she questioned.

"Well, supposedly, the only way to change the Prince back from a frog is with a kiss from the Princess. Maybe the same principle applies here." Natsu answered.

"That's ridiculous, how did the Prince even become a frog in the first pla-" Wendy began, but was silenced by Natsu's red finger.

"Just kiss me, idiot." Natsu whispered as he pressed his lips against hers, leaning down to reach her height. Sweeping her up and off her feet, Natsu held her in the air as they shared a passionate kiss, which Wendy welcomed with open arms. Spinning her around and around, Wendy's head begun to get dizzy after what seemed like an endless show of affection until Natsu separated them and held her delicately in his arms.

The sound of every guild member's jaw dropping simultaneously was audible even from their distant position, and Wendy was pretty sure Juvia had passed out.

"I love you too, silly." Natsu said quietly, his reptilian eye returning to it's normal shape as his shiny red scales began to crack and fall off of his body while his horns receded into his head. "You don't have to worry about getting left behind ever again, because I'll always wait for you to catch up." he said with his trademarked smile that Wendy had grown to love.

As Wendy nodded in reply and took his hand to lead him back towards their friends, she couldn't help but look up to the sky out of habit.

_Thank you, Grandeeney-san, for everything. Say hello to Igneel-san for me too, alright?_


End file.
